EL DORADO 3 



that the riches of the land had been secured by the first- 

 comers. 



It is easy to understand how, out of the longings of 

 these needy and restless spirits, there grew a belief, which 

 gradually shaped itself into a certainty, that far away 

 towards the east there lay a land of plenty, compared to 

 which the kingdom of the Incas was but a barren waste. 

 Why should there not be in a country so vast other and 

 richer empires than those of Montezuma and Atahualpa '? 

 And it is not improbable that the viceroys and such 

 citizens as had acquired wealth and power did much to 

 encourage the belief in a distant country teeming with 

 gold and precious stones. It was an easy way of getting 

 rid of men who must have been importunate, if not 

 dangerous, fellow-citizens. Thus it came to pass that 

 many expeditions left the plateau of Quito in search of 

 the Golden City on the shores of the Lake of Parime. 



The Indians, whom these early explorers visited, eager 

 in their turn to rid themselves of such unwelcome guests, 

 found it to their advantage to confirm the stories of a 

 wealthy country far away in the direction of the rising 

 sun. So that the few who returned from these first 

 expeditions, so fraught with danger and hardships, 

 brought with them many detailed accounts gathered in 

 their wanderings of the wealth and beauty of the 

 wonderful city of Manoa, with the result that fresh bands 

 of adventurers started in search of the kingdom of the 

 Inga, each band hoping to be more successful than its 

 predecessors. In spite of the failure of expedition after 

 expedition, the fable of El Dorado continued to exert an 

 extraordinary influence on the more adventurous spirits 

 of the times, of whom Sir Walter Ralegh was one of the 

 most prominent. It was not until the beginning of the 



B 2 



